Interview: Satoru Iwata - Transcript

When he took presidency at Nintendo Co. Ltd almost exactly two years ago, Satoru Iwata wasn't doing the same job he's now admired for. Back then his job was to sell GameCubes and GBAs. Now he is charged with the massive task of making Nintendo viable against living room behemoths Sony and Microsoft in the next generation. And never have we been more confident that Nintendo and its fans are in safe hands.

How does he plan to do it? By doing what Nintendo does best - innovating. This much we know from his speech at Nintendo's E3 briefings this year and last. But is that enough?

On the agenda:

Nintendo DS and its E3 showing and software line-up.

The delay of Nintendo DS in Europe - an official apology!

Relationship with developers and how they could be improved.

The next generation Nintendo home system.

How will the next generation battle take place?

Why Iwata believes there won't be a bright future waiting for Microsoft or Sony in next gen.

In strategic terms, how will Nintendo compete with Xbox 2 and PS3?

On Sony PSP - will it succeed and will DS compete?

Hiroshi Yamauchi - his current role at Nintendo and his surprising level of involvement with Nintendo DS.

Shigeru Miyamoto - what does his new role mean, and how much involvement does he have in specific projects?

Mr Iwata also discusses his new responsibilities and his own personal involvement in current projects.

Kikizo: The best place to start is probably the DS, I'm quite interested in the game support because upstairs you have, sort of demos really, but can you tell me how many games there are going to be for it at launch?

"We have not yet decided which software titles we should launch simultaneously with the Nintendo DS."

- Satoru Iwata

Satoru Iwata: As a matter of fact there are many other software titles in developed inside Nintendo and of course outside of Nintendo right now, but I think in terms of the E3 show, we really had to limit the number of software titles that can be played. Specifically, the time is limited for each player to test play each demo unit. Accordingly, we have to focus upon only the technical demonstrations that can show a glimpse of ability or possibilities of the DS technology. And as I said there are many other software titles in development right now, but actually we have not yet decided which software titles we should launch simultaneously with the hardware. And when we are ready to complete each specific software title, they're going to be different. After all, if when people buy it they are willing to spend twenty, thirty or forty minutes on it or much more, then they can feel that this is quite different, and this DS is quite unique and unprecedented. So let me repeat that today what you are seeing is just a glimpse of the technical demonstrations.

Kikizo: One thing I found slightly disappointing was that you announced it will be launched in the US and Japan this year but not in Europe until next year. I hate to say this but there's a slight feeling, particularly in the UK, that Nintendo's more interested in the American and Japanese markets than in Europe, and Europe's like the poor relation, and I don't know whether you'd agree with that...

"Metroid Prime 2: Echoes will be launched in Europe by the end of this year, at the sacrifice of the Japanese launch."

- Satoru Iwata

Satoru Iwata: Well, yes, in this opportunity I really want to apologise to the fans of Nintendo products in Europe. It is true that we are often late in introducing you to the new products compared with Japan and the United States. Having said that however, not all games are late in their European arrival. For example, we are now showing the Metroid Prime 2: Echoes game for Nintendo GameCube, and we are now putting or energies so that the European version of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes will be launched in Europe by the end of this year, at the sacrifice of the Japanese launch by the end of this year, so please understand that it's not always the case that Nintendo is late in introducing software in European territories. And specifically of course we are in a limited capacity of production when we discuss certain new product, when we talk about the preparation of hardware and software, Europe is always the territory that requires us to translate so many languages for both hardware and software, which includes programming of software as well. In terms of the number of units available and language translation issues, we are sorry, but Europe is going to be a little bit late in receiving the DS. But compared with the timeframe when we introduced GameCube, I believe the gap, or wait is much shorter.

Kikizo Games:

Entertainment:

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